Our Position on 1080

"Bay Bush Action ONLY uses trapping in its operation in the Opua Forest."

Taking out just one or two pests is not an option if you want healthy native forests.

For example, targeting only possums means there's more plant growth, which means more seeds, buds,
seedlings and bugs for rats to eat. Rat populations explode with all the extra food.
And taking out just rats, means wild cats, stoats and weasels turn their attention to our native
wildlife.

Although on the surface, the possum fur industry seems like the "economic" answer to
the pest problem, it's not. If possums numbers are high enough
for harvesting, our forests are already in serious trouble. When possums are cleaned out of an
area, trappers will move on until their numbers build up again. In the meantime, rat numbers can skyrocket.

This is why, if we want our forests to truly thrive, we need to target all the pests.

Bay Bush Action traps rats, possums, stoats, cats, weasels, ferrets and mice. We target all the offenders
at the same time. It's called best practice, multi-species pest control.
Trapping is not a one-off thing. The reinvasion is constant.

Where Bay Bush Action is trapping, the increase in birdlife and plant growth has been staggering.
You know all the hard work is worth it because you can see the results. But, it's also scary.
It suddenly makes you realise, that in the areas where there is no multi-species pest control, our forests are dying.
And what's really worrying, is around 90% of DOC land gets little or no pest control...at all. Many of New Zealand's
once thriving native forests are in free-fall collapse.

So why don't we do multi-species trapping everywhere then? Well trapping definitely works well, but it is
expensive and involves a staggering amount of time and effort. Getting people to trap their own backyards is one
thing, but finding people to walk for hours through the bush clearing rat, after maggoty rat from traps is
another.

For a large scale trapping programme you would need to cut tracks in grids 150 metres apart all through the bush.
You would need to have hundreds of thousands of traps carried in, installed, maintained and set regularly.
You need a forest that's close by and terrain that's easy so there are no gaps in pest control. You need to carry
about 3kg of lure per kilometer of trapline. This means we can only realistically do multi-species trapping in a tiny
area of a huge forest. And even after all that, you would still not get rat numbers low enough to reintroduce species
like kōkako without using toxin. This is the case with all trapping programs throughout Aotearoa.

To date, there is no group in our country that protects more than a 1000 hectares using best practice,
multi-species pest control using only traps. To put that in perspective DOC manages 116,000 hectares of forest
in Northland and Forest & Bird say nationally we need to bring 5,000,000 hectares under
multi-species pest control.

Bay Bush Action trustees have put a huge effort into researching 1080. This included reviewing
the science and also travelling the country to visit forests that have been using 1080 and
forests that have not.

New Zealand has no land mammals (other than bats). It makes us one of the few countries in the world
where targeting introduced predators with 1080 can be done without any risk to a native mammal population.
This is why New Zealand uses more 1080 than any other country.

It's fair to say 1080 has not always been used sensibly or responsibly. Mistakes have been made and some
people have been very against its use for a variety of reasons, and rightly so. There were times when
many native birds were being killed and the aerial dropping of the toxin wasn't accurate and stock or dogs got poisoned.

However, year after year, important changes have been made.

Simple changes, like making baits from cereals instead of carrots, dying them green, and optimising sowing
rates means the majority of native birds aren't interested in the baits but they are still hugely
attractive to possums and rats.

These days they use GPS guided helicopters, not airplanes with
a few scribbles on a map. Very, very few native birds are now killed by 1080 and
the year after its use, native bird populations can skyrocket.

Bay Bush Action already knew, that despite its chemically sounding name, 1080 was a naturally
occurring plant-based toxin found in many plants around the world. In Western Australia, sheep and cattle
of early settlers died because they were eating plants that produced
1080 in their leaves.

We learnt that it did not bio-accumulate in the body. This means if you don't eat
enough to kill you, it just passes through you and it does not accumulate in your
organs. The tea plant and pūhā have 1080 naturally within them. This means when
you have a cup of tea, you have a tiny amount of 1080 but it does not affect you
and does not bio-accumulate inside you.

Because 1080 it is a naturally occurring plant-based toxin, it breaks
down just like any other plant toxin in the water or soil. For example, kowhai seeds,
karaka seeds, tutu, many ferns and toadstools are all highly toxic. But these plant toxins
break down and do not build up in the soil or waterways and neither does 1080.

Over 2500 water samples have been taken immediately after 1080 has been used. Over
96% off these samples had no traces of 1080. The other 4% had around the level you
may find naturally in a cup of tea.

This information made it really exciting to us. It was unlike other nasty poisons
that can stay around for a long time.

The sowing rate of 1080 is on average only 3-4 baits over the area the
size of a tennis court. And the important thing about 1080 is it kills all the pests that are
destroying our forests.

When a rat or possum eats 1080, they will usually return to their nest or den, go
unconscious and die there. It is around this time that feral cats, stoats, weasels
and ferrets are likely to attack and eat the dying or freshly dead rats and possums.
All the very worst offenders can be hit at once.

1080 works by interrupting the body’s energy production systems: an animal’s
cells are starved of energy and subsequently vital functions in the body stop.
A recent report commissioned by the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC)
rated the relative humaneness of 1080 as moderately humane.

Aerial dropping of 1080 is far more effective than ground control in bait stations
as it gets the baits into the canopy of the forest as well as on the ground. It
also gets the baits into the very inaccessible places people don't or can't get
to. In just three days and nights you can get pest populations down to near zero allowing
native bird populations to nest safely.

Most of the work occurs setting up the first 1080 operation and subsequent operations
become quite straight forward. Your local DOC office or Kiwis for kiwi can provide
advice on this.

1080 is only around $20/ha. This means you can treat very large areas cost effectively.
As a comparison, the annual cost of maintaining fenced forest was calculated at $3365 per hectare.
Trapping setup costs alone are around $378 per ha.

Our Conclusion

For large scale pest control 1080 is by far the best option.

The forests that are being treated with 1080 are pumping compared to forests without pest control.

The Green party also accept we need to use 1080. As does the Environment and Conservation Organisation
and Birds NZ. Greenpeace, have never and will never campaign against 1080.

The Environmental Risk Management Authority also found it to be biodegradable and
safe with the positives far outweighing the negatives.

Landcare Research has done countless studies all finding the same thing: it works well.

Basically, all the people that are involved with looking after our forests and native wildlife say the same
thing: we need to be using far more of it if we are serious about getting the pest problem under control.